The Ballon D'Or 2014

The shortlist for the prestigious Ballon D'Or award has been announced, and with the award in the New Year looming, let's take a look at who I think are the main contenders and what they have to offer:

Thomas Muller

Everyone's favourite raumdeuter on the award winning Football Manager series, Thomas Muller has had an impressive year with both club and country. At the World Cup, the German was awarded the Silver Boot, finishing behind James Rodriguez in the goal scoring charts with 5 goals. Also at the event he collected the Silver Ball behind Lionel Messi who received the coveted Golden Ball. With Bayern he helped them to their 23rd Bundesliga title and in the process scoring 13 goals and assisting 10 times. Muller is a work horse and is surely got be in with a shout at the award ceremony in January.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Last year's winner Cristiano Ronaldo is always going to be in with an excellent shout of retaining the award. Although his Portugal did not have a good World Cup, he has been firing on all cylinders for Real Madrid in 2014. With less than half of the season gone, he has netted 20 goals in 12 league appearances and 26 goals in total. Ronaldo was instrumental in Real Madrid achieving La Decima last season, breaking the record for number of goals scored in a single campaign (17). This led him to being awarded UEFA's Best Player in Europe accolade. For the 6th season in a row, it is looking likely that the winner of the award is likely to come from the Portuguese captain or else Lionel Messi and the raging feud between the pair continues..

Philipp Lahm

For many years, Philipp Lahm was the heart of the defence for both club and country, without notable praise abroad. Now after a World Cup triumph, his expertise is finally being noticed and complimented. Having decided to hang up his international boots in order to further his club career at Bayern Munich, he capped it off with aplomb in Brazil in July. The Munich captain is definitely more of a team player rather than relying on himself, but he does galvanise his side, and gives them a lift to the next level when he is on the pitch. Lahm may not receive the ultimate prize, but I do believe he has to be a shoe-in for Team of the Year. 

Lionel Messi

Ever since the bitter disappointment of losing in the World Cup Final in July, Lionel Messi has been breaking more records. At the tender age of 27, the Argentine recently broke Raul's record goal tally in the Champions League with a hat trick midweek against APOEL Nicosia, and it seems like there are more European goals in the future. Out of his 74 European goals, he has scored in 23 different cities in 16 countries. In Argentina's route to the World Cup Final, he found the net 4 times and also won the Golden Ball for the best player - no consolation however for losing in the Final. He'll be up there, and the new record broken, might just swing it for the the Barcelona no.10.

Manuel Neuer

You won't find a goal keeper on the list of Ballon D'Or winners in the modern award, and in fact have to look back to 1963, for the last keeper to go home with the award. Manuel Neuer will be hoping to change this drought and be the first since the Soviet, Lev Yashin to do so. The 6ft 4in keeper has been a colossus in the goal, over the past 12 months and only conceded 4 goals in the World Cup. In comparison, he conceded 40 goals in 50 matches for Bayern, not bad, considering the quality of teams he played against. Numerous awards gained this year include the UEFA Champions League Team of the Season, the Golden Glove award at the World Cup, World Cup Dream Team, World Cup All Star Team and Footballer of the Year in Germany.

Other notable contenders include Diego Costa, Angel Di Maria, Arjen Robben and Toni Kroos. Costa led the Atletico line all the way to the Champions League Final last year and although he had a disappointing World Cup, he has been in red hot form for new club Chelsea. Di Maria and Robben have had excellent seasons both with club and country, sending eachother to trophies respectively. Similar to his former Bayern team mates, Kroos, was a key figure for club and country. His ability to dictate the play around the park and spread the ball, ensured a very successful season for Bayern Munich and Germany.

Even at an awards ceremony to commemorate the sublime talent we have in this era, UEFA have seemed to have grabbed the headlines once more, with needless ramblings that have caused controversy. With little over a month to wait, let's hope that UEFA can keep their opinions muted in order to not detract anything more from the spectacle that rewards some of the most gifted players in the planet for their individual brilliance.